Meaning & use
custom house
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Meaning
nouncountable
A government building, usually at a port or border, where taxes on imported and exported goods are collected and cargo is checked.
Grammar: Often used with the and a place name: the old custom house at the harbor.
Patterns
- the custom house at something
- a custom house in something
Merchants queued at the custom house to pay duty on their wine.
The old custom house now serves as a museum on the waterfront.
Officials at the custom house inspected every crate that came off the ship.
Word forms
| plural | custom houses |
|---|
Common combinations
- historic custom house
- The historic custom house overlooks the harbor.
- clear goods through the custom house
- Importers had to clear goods through the custom house before selling them.
- custom house officer
- A custom house officer stamped the papers.
- pay duty at the custom house
- Travelers paid duty at the custom house.
- custom house broker
- A custom house broker handles import paperwork for firms.
Synonyms and how they differ
- customs house
- Customs house is the more usual modern spelling and means exactly the same building.
- customs office
- Customs office is a plainer, modern term and need not refer to a grand historic building.
- customs post
- Customs post suggests a small checkpoint on a border road rather than a large port building.
Word family
- customs noun
- the authority that controls goods entering a country
- custom noun
- a tax on imported goods, usually in the plural
- customs officer noun
- an official who checks goods and baggage
- customs duty noun
- tax paid on imported goods
Commonly confused: custom house or custom-made?
custom house vs custom-made
Custom-made describes something built to order, which has nothing to do with the tax building.
Practice
The ship's captain had to show his papers at the ___ before unloading the cargo.
Choose one answer.
A custom house is where duties on goods are collected. The other buildings have nothing to do with trade inspection.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “custom house”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.